Need Balance?

The Scales - Libra

Happy Labor Day! I want to dedicate this blog to my grandfather whom would have been 100 on September 1st. He passed in 2007 and I think of him often as he was always such an inspiration in so many ways. He was an amazing man and I wish he was here today. We drove up to Mt. Evans this weekend, which my grandfather would have loved. He loved the outdoors and despite his Rheumatoid Arthritis, he was fairly active right up until the time he passed.

I saw my Naturopathic doctor about 2 weeks ago and I got my lab results, so there is some good news. All my labs look pretty good. My thyroid numbers are in fairly good standing, though my TSH is on the high end of normal. My triglycerides are in good range. My cholesterol numbers look good. On the down side, my vitamin D levels and Ferratin levels dropped, but those are both easily treatable by increasing my vitamin D and iron intake in order to have more optimal levels. My glucose levels are on the high side of normal.

My doctor looked at and palpated my thyroid and agreed that it is definitely enlarged on the left from the last time I had seen her. The increased hoarseness that I've been experience in addition to the enlargement meant that we weren't out of the woods with the thyroid despite the numbers looking pretty good. We're currently treating with caster oil packs and hydrotherapy to the neck/thyroid, if this doesn't result in improvement, we will have to ultrasound the thyroid to make sure there isn't something more serious going on.

So, despite the numbers looking pretty good with exception of the Vitamin D and Iron levels, I haven't been feeling great. July and August were unusually busy months for me and I had the sense that if my thyroid wasn't out of whack, my adrenals would be out of whack and that is in fact the case. You see, the adrenals and the thyroid are like yin and yang. Most alternative medicine recognizes that if you don't address the adrenals first and foremost, then the thyroid with never really benefit from treatment. Conventional medical practices typically don't recognize a problem with the adrenals until it is far too late and one ends up with Addison's disease, which is an autoimmune disease of the adrenals.

Many of the borderline numbers on my labs (specifically the glucose and TSH in addition to other specifics), though in normal range in addition to my symptoms indicates there is adrenal insufficiency. What does that all mean for me?  Well, lets back up a bit with symptoms. I've been very exhausted for a couple months now. I crash hard in the evenings and my body just shuts down. I wake with insomnia about 3-4 am almost every morning and I wake feeling unrefreshed.  The body can only do that for so long. This is probably one factor that may be a cause of the higher glucose numbers. I'm still struggling to loose weight and it tends to inch up a bit every so often despite the fact that I work out every day and I eat a very healthy diet. I typically am very careful about what I schedule into my week for the very reason that I don't want to over do it, but there were some things out of my control the past couple of months. I had a couple of times last month that I cried out of pure exhaustion, another sign that the adrenals are affected. Dr. Rind has a very interesting metabolic scorecard, which compares adrenals to thyroid and when I went through the list I discovered that 90% of my symptoms fall in the adrenal category, though adrenal symptoms and thyroid symptoms can be very similar, making it difficult to differentiate. I don't know Dr. Rind, nor am I familiar with his work, so I typically wouldn't post about someone that I cannot recommend, but I feel there is some level of validity with this scorecard at least as an indicator that something may be going on that you might want to ask your doctor about. Use this link at your own risk: Dr Rind's Metabolic Scorecard

In addition to the above symptoms, since starting my gut healing process I had high hopes of feeling better and seeing improved symptoms.  I hate to disappoint, but I have hopes that I'll be able to tell you I'm feeling a lot better in future posts. My Psoriasis has been worse than I've seen it in quite a while. My Naturopath said this can happen in the healing process. The skin is an area where toxins are eliminated. My cycles have been more difficult. My sinuses have been flared up. I've had an incredible amount of pain that my physical therapist has been challenged to keep up with, but I'm so thankful for her. I have had chronic hypertonic muscles for years and they are causing issues that could possibly be pegged as costochondritis or tietze symdrome or both, there are slight differences between both, though we're not really naming the issues for now. Theses issues create an intense amount of pain that can be debilitating at times. I won't go into too much detail here except to say that being in constant pain can be exhausting and will also be draining on the adrenals. The chronic hypertonic muscles in addition to other symptoms continue to make me believe that Lyme disease could be a reality and that will be one of the next things that my Naturopathic doctor will test for. There is an interesting documentary about Lyme disease that is a big eye opener. You can watch it for free on hulu:Under Our Skin. Scott has an interesting website and blog about his journey with Lyme disease and he can also be seen in the documentary listed above. Here is his website if you want to check it out: Better Health Guy

Lyme is something that can be chronic and if I have it I will be in the chronic stage by now. If it is diagnosed treatment protocol will change somewhat from the current plan. Lyme can be with you for many years and I grew up in a state, which has the current highest reported Lyme cases in the U.S., Pennsylvania.

So, the theme or focus for the month of September is BALANCE. This is my birth month and I will turn 40 near the end of the month and I had hopes of having a big celebration and inviting friends from out of town. As nice as that would be I had to make the decision to have a low key birthday and I nixed the original idea opting for a low key get away to the nearby mountains with my hubby. My adrenals will thank me for not overdoing it and not adding stress. In addition I'm being much more intentional about incorporating more yoga, which is much better for the adrenals than some of the more strenuous/intense workouts. It may seem counter productive to weight loss, but weight loss won't matter if adrenal fatigue sets in. I will be making many intentional efforts this month to reduce the amount of stress in my life as a result intending to bring more balance into my life. I'm a Libra after all and balance is so important.

I am at 2 months of the gut healing protocol and I have another month to go according to my Naturopath. She switched up my supplementation and we've also added herbs that will support my adrenals. It isn't surprising that my adrenals are struggling given all the bugs my body recently had to work so hard at getting rid of. Any type of stress can be difficult on the adrenals. We'll also be completing a challenge of the Th1 and Th2 pathways with substances that support one side or the other. If you've read Dr. Kharazian's book than you'll understand what I'm talking about, but the idea is that in an autoimmune individual one pathway of your T helper cells is weak and the other is a bit overbearing. The challenge will consist of 3 days of one substance and 3 days of the other and depending on my reactions noted, should indicate which side of my T-helper cells need to be supported or strengthened, so my fingers are crossed that we'll be successful in discovering an area that we can support. Stay tuned for results.

This month for the BUBL meeting I'll be hosting a conference call, so if you are interested in dialing in, please RSVP to BUBL.Denver@gmail.com an 800 number and conference log in code will be provided. I'll provide an additional post with details in a couple of days, so stay tuned. I'd love for you to join us on this call and I'll try to do a conference call once a quarter so that those of you not located in Denver are able to attend if you would like.  Stay tuned for more details and the date/time for the conference call this month.

I'm tired and it is time for bed, so good night for now. I hope you are all well and I just want to encourage each of you to make space for yourselves and remember to find ways to relax as difficult as that may be at times, it is always so important.